Board Members

John Lee – Chairman

John Lee is a retired Middle School, High School and College Educator. His education background covers a variety of fields like Mathematics, Physics, Earth Science and Computer Science. He is the founder, president and executive director of Leeward Space Foundation. John has been a key supporter of the ISDHub concept and has played a crucial role in helping the development of the International Space Development HUB from the early stages to the present.

Armen Papazian – Executive Director

Dr. Armen Papazian is the founding chairman and CEO of Keipr, a boutique financial modelling and consulting firm, and the founding CEO of the International Space Development HUB. After earning his PhD in financial economics at the University of Cambridge, UK, he embarked on a career path that led him to achieve capital market history in the Middle East. As a former Managing Director of Innovation and Development at the Dubai International Financial Exchange (Nasdaq Dubai), Dr. Papazian led the launch of the Middle East’s first Structured Products platform with Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, and Merrill Lynch. He has led the creation of the region’s first tradable bond and Sukuk indices with HSBC and the first fungible dual listing with a US exchange in the region. He then assumed the role of Head of Islamic Finance for UBS AG, with a global and cross business mandate, serving wealth management, asset management and the investment bank. He acted as a Judge for the FT Investment Banking Awards in 2011. Previously, he held the honorary position of Fellow at the Cambridge University Judge Business School, UK. He has numerous publications in a variety of outlets, he contributes regularly to policy debates in various media globally, and is a widely sought after speaker, economist, and consultant.

Amalie Sinclair – Executive Director

Amalie Sinclair has been the driving development force behind ISDHub since 2007. Her background is in the arts and humanities, from an early age she took up studies for the extant philosophies of Asia, with many significant teachers including the late Karmapa XVI. In the 70’s she was introduced to the deep semantic structures of Wittgenstein through the work of the Cambridge Language Research Unit. In 1984 she located to California. She was the director and producer of a large scale performing arts program for the Millennial celebrations which included participation from the Lakota Sioux and peoples of Taos Pueblo, together with artists from Mongolia, Japan, South India, Tibet, Cambodia and Indonesia. In 2004 she was invited to work for the formulation of an advanced US Space Policy with an opening program in Washington DC. Since 2004 her primary focus has been the development of international collaboration in space, giving various talks and authoring many publications. In 2007, she engaged for the Hangar One rehabilitation and re-use issue through Save Hangar One Committee and via community and congressional outreach. In 2008, she published articles on the ISST early proposal at SGAC and the “Space for Progress” website. She presented a paper on US Space Treaty Aspects at 10th ILEWG- ICEUM International Lunar Exploration Working Group – Cape Canaveral, addressing the special session on US space policy for global leadership. She has been a director of Leeward Space Foundation since 2011.

Giorgio Gaviraghi – Chief Designer

Giorgio Gaviraghi received his Architectural degree in 1968 at the Milan Polytechnic in Italy. He has since taken part in a number of graduate courses in management, marketing , and design at several major universities. At first as a project architect, then as Project Manager, responsible for international projects, he has built a distinguished career across the globe. He has acted as CEO for international companies operating in the design , construction, real estate and touristic resort development, he has been a Director General of multinational companies operating in Europe, U.S., Latin America and the Middle East in the field of design and construction, touristic resorts and real estate. He is responsible for major initiatives, some worth more than $ 500M US, as the design and construction management of Fruila after the 1976 earthquake, in aerospace – Aeritalia Boeing facilities, HAI in Greece and with SDI in US. Project designer and general manager of major resorts and hotels in the Red Sea, Sardinia, Bahamas and other major tourist sites in the world. Winner of international competitions in innovative products and systems for industrial design, Giorgio He has specialized in Space architecture for advanced projects and proposals for major space agencies and is partner in MAAT project for a revolutionary airship based transportation system funded by the EU. In the last five years he has founded Exponential Design Lab, a design and project management company that operates from Latin America with customers all around the world.

Michael Laine – Non-Executive Director

Michael Laine’s career spans a variety of disciplines and specializations. It starts directly out of high school, by enlisting for four years in the United States Marine Corps. Soon after, Laine would begin his seven years of Investment Management with a small, exclusive boutique in Portland. In 1995, after returning from Boston University (where he focused on Organizational Behavior) he did two things. He bought a 6-story commercial office building and started an Internet company. In 2001, Laine shifted careers to the one he’d been dreaming about for years: the commercialization of space. Initially Laine started a consulting firm, and then was brought on full-time to NASA’s Institute of Advanced Concepts team that was researching the development of the Space Elevator. He has been the commercial force behind the Space Elevator project for the last 10 years. In that time, his team pioneered work in super-materials (ultra-strong, ultra-conductive carbon nanotubes), and built 18 robots that climbed into the sky on tethers held aloft by balloons (9 tests sanctioned by the Air Force, Navy and Federal Aviation Administration). His team has developed professional research relationships with more than 50 world-class universities and government research centers – including Harvard, Stanford, U. Washington, U. Texas, U. British Columbia, McGill, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and many others. He also serves in an advisory role to the International Space Elevator Consortium and the Leeward Space Foundation.

Pier Marzocca – Non-Executive Director

Pier Marzocca received the Ph.D. degree in Aeronautical and Aerospace Engineering in 2001 from Politecnico di Torino in Italy. He is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, Clarkson University, USA. Prior joining Clarkson he worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher and Visiting Professor in Engineering Science and Mechanics at Virginia Tech. He is also affiliated with the Center for Advanced Material Processing, Center for Sustainable Energy Systems, Center for Air Resources Engineering & Science at Clarkson University, and the Institute for Sustainable Environment, and is also the Director of the Advanced Applied Aeroelastic Laboratory and of the Reliability Evaluation and Assessment Laboratory. Pier Marzocca is senior member of SAE, AIAA, ASME, ASEE, IEEE, and the Chair of the SAE Unmanned Aircraft System Committee, and the Clarkson University advisor for NASA Revolutionary Aerospace System Concepts Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) students program. He is also the recipient of a number of awards including the Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award from the Society of Automotive Engineering. He is also a Deputy Editor in Chief of International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Science, Associate Editor of Journal of Thermal Stresses and Journal of Aerospace Engineering. Pier Marzocca is the author and/or co-author of over 200 papers on nonlinear aeroelasticity, structural dynamics, controls and testing on fixed wings and rotary blades. His research interests include unsteady aerodynamics, flow and aeroelastic control, aircraft, spacecraft and unmanned aerial vehicle technologies, space architecture, structural health monitoring, wind turbine technologies, solar cells and other energy systems reliability. Professor Marzocca’s research is funded by several government agencies, including NASA, AFOSR, ARMY, NSF, and NYSERDA, and private foundations and industries, including Intertek, GE, and Pratt & Whitney.

Eric Klien – Non Executive Director

Eric Klien is an entrepreneur and humanist with a unique track record. From 1986-1991 he was employed by Time Trend Software a stock analysis company, successfully building a modest wage by playing the stock market and retiring to Las Vegas . During this time Eric became an expert in cryonics and served as a member of the Alcor Investment Advisory Board. A libertarian, in 1993-1994 he proposed the Atlantis/Oceanus project as an umbrella for independent state identity, also initiating through a personal pledge the “not a penny more” campaign to reduce the federal deficit by public donation. After selling his interests in several large on- line ventures that he had developed ,including for matchmaking, employee scheduling, web hosting and sales leads, Eric dedicated his energy to the Lifeboat Foundation, a non -profit think tank that he established in 2002. The Lifeboat mission formally defined the need to avert destruction even at catastrophic scale. Today the foundation retains a notable advisory board of 1,500 with outlook in significant fields including human life extension, artificial intelligence and planetary defense, and continues to engage directly for insight into the dangers that confront the modern world.